1968
Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. Events January : Tet begins.]] * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as the leader of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia.* * January 8 – British Prime Minister Harold Wilson endorses the 'I'm Backing Britain' campaign for working an additional half hour each day without pay.John Chartres, "Wilson Joins 'I Back Britain'", The Times, 9 January 1968, p. 1. * January 15 – An earthquake in Sicily kills 380 and injures around 1,000. http://emidius.mi.ingv.it/CPTI99/CPTI_finestre.html * January 17 – Lyndon B. Johnson calls for the non-conversion of the U.S. dollar. * January 21 ** Vietnam War – Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins, ending on April 8. ** A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress crashes in Greenland, discharging four nuclear bombs. * January 22 – Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In debuts on NBC. * January 23 – North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship violated its territorial waters while spying. * January 25 – The Israeli submarine INS Dakar sinks in the Mediterranean Sea, killing 69. USS Pueblo]] * January 27 – A French submarine sinks in the Mediterranean Sea with 52 men. * January 30 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive begins, as Viet Cong forces launch a series of surprise attacks across South Vietnam. * January 31 ** Viet Cong soldiers attack the US Embassy, Saigon. ** Nauru president Hammer DeRoburt declares independence from Australia. February * February 1 ** Vietnam War: A Viet Cong officer named Nguyễn Văn Lém is executed by Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The event is photographed by Eddie Adams. The photo makes headlines around the world, eventually winning the 1969 Pulitzer Prize, and sways U.S. public opinion against the war. ** The Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad merge to form Penn Central, the largest ever corporate merger up to this date. * February 6–February 18 – The 1968 Winter Olympics are held in Grenoble, France. * February 8 – American civil rights movement: A civil rights protest staged at a white-only bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina is broken up by highway patrolmen; 3 college students are killed. * February 11 ** Border clashes take place between Israel and Jordan. ** Madison Square Garden in New York City opens. * February 12 – Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat massacre. * February 13 – Civil rights disturbances occur at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. * February 17 – Administrative reforms in Romania divide the country into 39 counties. * February 19 – The Florida Education Association (FEA) initiates a mass resignation of teachers to protest state funding of education. This is, in effect, the first statewide teachers' strike in the United States. * February 19 – NET televises the very first episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. * February 24 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Hué. * February 25 – Vietnam War: Ha My massacre. * February 27 – Ex-Teenagers singer Frankie Lymon is found dead from a heroin overdose in Harlem. March * March 6 – Un-recognized Rhodesia executes three black citizens, the first executions since UDI, prompting international condemnation. * March 7 – Vietnam War: The First Battle of Saigon ends. * March 8 – The first student protests spark the 1968 Polish political crisis. * March 10–11 – Vietnam War: Battle of Lima Site 85, largest single ground combat loss of United States Air Force members (12) during the then-secret war later known as the Laotian Civil War. * March 11 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson mandates that all computers purchased by the federal government support the ASCII character encoding.Lyndon B. Johnson (March 11, 1968). Memorandum Approving the Adoption by the Federal Government of a Standard Code for Information Interchange. The American Presidency Project. Accessed 2008-04-14. * March 12 ** Mauritius achieves independence from British rule. ** U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson edges out antiwar candidate Eugene J. McCarthy in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, a vote which highlights the deep divisions in the country, and the party, over Vietnam. * March 13 – The first Rotaract club is chartered in North Charlotte, North Carolina. * March 14 – Nerve gas leaks from the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground near Skull Valley, Utah. * March 15 – British Foreign Secretary George Brown resigns. * March 16 ** Vietnam War – My Lai massacre: American troops kill scores of civilians. The story will first become public in November 1969 and will help undermine public support for the U.S. efforts in Vietnam. ** U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy enters the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. * March 17 – A demonstration in London's Grosvenor Square against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War leads to violence; 91 people are injured, 200 demonstrators arrested. * March 18 – Gold standard: The Congress of the United States repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back U.S. currency. * March 19–March 23 – Afrocentrism, Black power, Vietnam War: Students at Howard University in Washington, D.C., signal a new era of militant student activism on college campuses in the U.S. Students stage rallies, protests and a 5-day sit-in, laying siege to the administration building, shutting down the university in protest over its ROTC program and the Vietnam War, and demanding a more Afrocentric curriculum. * March 21 – Vietnam War: In ongoing campus unrest, Howard University students protesting the Vietnam War, the ROTC program on campus and the draft, confront Gen. Lewis Hershey, then head of the U.S. Selective Service System, and as he attempts to deliver an address, shout him down with cries of "America is the Black man's battleground!" * March 22 – Daniel Cohn-Bendit ("Danny The Red") and 7 other students occupy the administrative offices of the University of Nanterre, setting in motion a chain of events that lead France to the brink of revolution in May. * March 24 – Aer Lingus Flight 712 crashed en route from Cork to London near Tuskar Rock, Wexford, killing 61 passengers and crew. * March 26 – Joan Baez marries activist David Harris in New York. * March 28 – Brazilian high school student Edson Luís de Lima Souto is shot by the police in a protest for cheaper meals at a restaurant for low-income students. The aftermath of his death was one of the first major events against the military dictatorship. * March 31 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces he will not seek re-election. April * April 2 ** Bombs explode at midnight in two department stores in Frankfurt-am-Main; Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin are later arrested and sentenced for arson. ** The film 2001: A Space Odyssey premieres in Washington, D.C. * April 3 – The American movie Planet of the Apes is released in theaters. * April 4 ** Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot dead at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots erupt in major American cities, lasting for several days afterwards. ** Apollo Program: Apollo-Saturn mission 502 (Apollo 6) is launched, as the second and last unmanned test-flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle. * April 6 ** La, la, la by Massiel (music and lyrics by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 for Spain, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. ** A shootout between Black Panthers and Oakland police results in several arrests and deaths, including 16-year-old Panther Bobby Hutton. ** A double explosion in downtown Richmond, Indiana kills 41 and injures 150. * April 7 – Racing driver Jim Clark is killed in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim. * April 8 – Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (under Department of Justice) (BNDD) created. * April 10 – The ferry Wahine strikes a reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, with the loss of 53 lives, during Cyclone Giselle, which provides the windiest conditions ever recorded in New Zealand. * April 11 ** Josef Bachmann tries to assassinate Rudi Dutschke, leader of the left-wing movement (APO) in Germany, and tries to commit suicide afterwards, failing in both, although Dutschke dies of his brain injuries 11 years later. ** German left-wing students blockade the Springer Press HQ in Berlin and many are arrested (one of them Ulrike Meinhof). ** U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968. * April 20 ** Pierre Trudeau becomes Canada's 15th Prime Minister. ** English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood Speech. ** MGM's classic film The Wizard of Oz makes its NBC debut after being telecast on CBS since 1956. It will remain on NBC for the next eight years. * April 23 ** President Mobutu releases captured mercenaries in the Congo. ** Surgeons at the Hôpital de la Pitié, Paris, perform Europe's first heart transplant, on Clovis Roblain. ** The United Methodist Church is created by the union of the former Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches. * April 23–April 30 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university (see main article Columbia University protests of 1968). * April 26 – The nuclear weapon "Boxcar" is tested at the Nevada Test Site in the biggest detonation of Operation Crosstie. * April 29 – The musical Hair officially opens on Broadway. May * May 2 – The Israel Broadcasting Authority commences television broadcasts. * May 3 – Braniff Flight 352 crashes near Dawson, Texas killing all 85 persons on board. * May 13 – Paris student riots; one million march through streets of Paris. * May 14 – The Beatles announce the creation of Apple Records in a New York press conference. * May 15 – An outbreak of severe thunderstorms produces tornadoes causing massive damage and heavy casualties in Charles City, Iowa, Oelwein, Iowa, and Jonesboro, Arkansas. * May 17 – The Catonsville Nine enter the Selective Service offices in Catonsville, Maryland, take dozens of selective service draft records, and burn them with napalm as a protest against the Vietnam War. * May 19 ** A general election is held in Italy. ** Nigerian forces capture Port Harcourt and form a ring around the Biafrans. This contributes to a humanitarian disaster as the surrounded population already suffers from hunger and starvation. * May 22 – The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine ''Scorpion'' sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores. * May 29 – Football: Manchester United wins the European Cup Final, becoming the first English team to do so. June * June 3 – Radical feminist Valerie Solanas shoots Andy Warhol as he enters his studio, wounding him. * June 4 – The Standard & Poor's 500 index closes above 100 for the first time, at 100.38. * June 5 – U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California by Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy dies from his injuries the next day. * June 8 – James Earl Ray is arrested for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. * June 10 – Football: Italy beats Yugoslavia 2–0 in a replay to win the 1968 European Championship. The original final on June 8 ended 1–1. * June 20 – Austin Currie, Member of Parliament (MP) at Stormont in Northern Ireland, along with others, squats a house in Caledon to protest discrimination in housing allocations. * June 23 – A football stampede in Buenos Aires leaves 74 dead and 150 injured. * June 24 – Giorgio Rosa declares the independence of his Republic of Rose Island, an artificial island off Rimini, Italy. Italian troops demolish it not long after. * June 26 – Bonin Islands are returned to Japan after 23 years of occupation by the United States Navy. * June 30 – Lockheed C-5 Galaxy heavy military transport aircraft first flies in the U.S. This model will still be in service forty years on. July * July 1 ** The Central Intelligence Agency's Phoenix Program is officially established. ** The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty opens for signature. * July 4 – Yachtsman Alec Rose, 59, receives a hero's welcome as he sails into Portsmouth, England after his 354-day round-the-world trip. * July 15 – The soap opera One Life to Live premieres on ABC. * July 17 – Saddam Hussein becomes Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Council in Iraq after a coup d'état. * July 18 – The semiconductor company Intel is founded. * July 23–July 28 – Black militants led by Fred (Ahmed) Evans engage in a fierce gunfight with police in the Glenville Shootout of Cleveland, Ohio, in United States. * July 25 – Pope Paul VI publishes the encyclical entitled Humanae Vitae, condemning birth control. * July 26 – Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong Dinh Dzu is sentenced to 5 years hard labor, for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war. * July 29 – Arenal Volcano erupts in Costa Rica for the first time in centuries. * July 30 – Thames Television starts transmission in London. August * August 5–August 8 – The Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida nominates Richard Nixon for U.S. President and Spiro Agnew for Vice President. * August 11 – The last steam passenger train service runs in Britain. A selection of British Railways steam locomotives make the 120-mile journey from Liverpool to Carlisle and return to Liverpool – the journey is known as the Fifteen Guinea Special). * August 18 – Two charter buses push into the Hida River on National Highway Route 41 in Japan, in an accident caused by heavy rain; 104 are killed. * August 20–August 21 – The Prague Spring of political liberalization ends, as 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia. * August 21 – The Medal of Honor is posthumously awarded to James Anderson, Jr.—he is the first black U.S. Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor. * August 24 – France explodes its first hydrogen bomb. * August 22–August 30 – Police clash with anti-war protesters in Chicago, Illinois, outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which nominates Hubert Humphrey for U.S. President, and Edmund Muskie for Vice President. * August 29 ** John Gordon Mein, US Ambassador to Guatemala, is assassinated on the streets of Guatemala City. First US Ambassador assassinated in the line of duty. ** Crown Prince Harald of Norway marries Sonja Haraldsen, the commoner he has dated for 9 years, in Oslo. September * September 6 – Swaziland becomes independent. * September 7 * September 9 Gregorio Vazquez Jr is born ** Mattel's Hot Wheels toy cars are introduced. ** 150 women (members of New York Radical Women) arrive in Atlantic City, New Jersey to protest against the Miss America Pageant, as exploitative of women. Led by activist and author Robin Morgan, it is one of the first large demonstrations of Second Wave Feminism as Women's Liberation begins to gather much media attention. * September 11 ** The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) was found. ** French General René Cogny and 94 others die in an Air France Caravelle jetliner crash near Nice in the Mediterranean. * September 13 ** Albania officially retreats from the Warsaw Pact upon the Soviet Union-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, having already ceased to participate actively in Pact activity since 1962. ** US Army Maj. Gen. Keith L. Ware, WWII Medal of Honor recipient, is killed when his helicopter is shot down in Vietnam. He is posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. ** Agreement for merger between the General Electric Company and English Electric, the largest industrial merger in the UK up to this date. * September 17 – The D'Oliveira Affair: The Marylebone Cricket Club tour of South Africa is cancelled when the South Africans refuse to accept the presence of Basil D'Oliveira, a Cape Coloured, in the side. * September 20 – Hawaii 5-O debuts on CBS and eventually becomes the longest-running crime show in television history until Law & Order overtakes it in 2003. * September 21 – The Soviet's Zond 5 unmanned lunar flyby mission returns to earth, with its first of a kind biological payload intact. * September 24 – 60 Minutes debuts on CBS and remains on the air as of 2012. * September 27 – Marcelo Caetano becomes prime minister of Portugal. * September 29 – A referendum in Greece gives more power to the military junta. * September 30 – At Paine Field, near Everett Washington in the United States, Boeing officially rolls out its new 747 for the media and the public. October * October 2 – Tlatelolco massacre: A student demonstration ends in bloodbath at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico, 10 days before the inauguration of the 1968 Summer Olympics. * October 3 – In Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado takes power in a revolution. * October 5 – Police baton civil rights demonstrators in Derry, Northern Ireland, marking the beginning of The Troubles. * October 8 – Vietnam War – Operation Sealords: United States and South Vietnamese forces launch a new operation in the Mekong Delta. * October 10 – the Detroit Tigers win the 1968 World Series, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 3. * October 11 ** Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission (Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham). Mission goals include the first live television broadcast from orbit and testing the lunar module docking maneuver. ** In Panama, a military coup d'état, led by Col. Boris Martinez and Col. Omar Torrijos, overthrows the democratically elected (but highly controversial) government of President Arnulfo Arias. Within a year, Torrijos ousts Martinez and takes charge as de facto Head of Government in Panama. * October 12–October 27 – The Games of the XIX Olympiad are held in Mexico City, Mexico. * October 12 – Equatorial Guinea receives its independence from Spain. * October 14 – Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the United States Army and United States Marines will send about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours. * October 15 – Led Zeppelin makes their first live performance, at Surrey University in Englandhttp://www.rockhall.com/inductee/led-zeppelin * October 16 ** In Mexico City, black American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their arms in a black power salute after winning, respectively, the gold and bronze medals in the Olympic men's 200 metres. ** Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney Riots, provoked by the banning of Walter Rodney from the country. * October 20 – Former U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis on the Greek island of Skorpios. * October 31 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in the Paris peace talks, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1. November * November 5 ** U.S. presidential election, 1968: Republican challenger Richard M. Nixon defeats the Democratic candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and American Independent Party candidate George C. Wallace. ** Luis A. Ferre is elected Governor of Puerto Rico. * November 11 ** Vietnam War: Operation Commando Hunt is initiated to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, through Laos into South Vietnam. By the end of the operation, 3 million tons of bombs are dropped on Laos, slowing but not seriously disrupting trail operations. ** A second republic is declared in the Maldives. * November 14 – Yale University announces it is going to admit women. * November 17 – The Heidi game: NBC cuts off the final 1:05 of an Oakland Raiders–New York Jets football game to broadcast the pre-scheduled Heidi. Fans are unable to see Oakland (which had been trailing 32–29) score 2 late touchdowns to win 43–32; as a result, thousands of outraged football fans flood the NBC switchboards to protest. * November 20 – The Farmington Mine Disaster in Farmington, West Virginia, kills seventy-eight men. * November 22 – The Beatles release their self-titled album popularly known as the White Album. * November 24 – 4 men hijack Pan Am Flight 281 from JFK International Airport, New York to Havana, Cuba. * November 26 – Vietnam War: United States Air Force First Lieutenant and Bell UH-1F helicopter pilot James P. Fleming rescues an Army Special Forces unit pinned down by Viet Cong fire, earning a Medal of Honor for his bravery. December * December 3 – The '68 Comeback Special marks the concert return of Elvis Presley. * December 9 – Douglas Engelbart publicly demonstrates his pioneering hypertext system, NLS, in San Francisco. * December 10 – Japan's biggest heist, the still-unsolved "300 million yen robbery", occurs in Tokyo. * December 11 – The film Oliver!, based on the hit London and Broadway musical, opens in the U.S. after being released first in England. It goes on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. ** The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is also filmed on this date, but not released until 1996. * December 13 – Brazilian president Artur da Costa e Silva decrees the AI-5 (or the Fifth Institutional Act), which lasts until 1978 and marks the beginning of the hard times of Brazilian military dictatorship. * December 20 – The Zodiac Killer is believed to have shot Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday on Lake Herman Road, Benicia, San Francisco Bay, California. * December 22 ** David Eisenhower, grandson of former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, marries Julie Nixon, the daughter of US President-elect Richard Nixon. ** Mao Zedong advocates that educated youth in urban China be re-educated in the country. It marks the start of the "Up to the mountains and down to the villages" movement. * December 24 – Apollo Program: U.S. spacecraft Apollo 8 enters orbit around the Moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William A. Anders become the first humans to see the far side of the Moon and planet Earth as a whole. The crew also reads from Genesis. Dates Unknown * The Khmer Rouge is officially formed in Cambodia as a offshot movement of the Vietnam People's Army from North Vietnam to bring communism to the nation. Births January–February * January 1 – Davor Suker, Croatian soccer footballer * January 2 – Cuba Gooding Jr., American actor * January 5 **Andrzej Gołota, Polish boxer **Carrie Ann Inaba, American choreographer, game show host and singer * January 6 – John Singleton, African-American film director and writer * January 9 – Joey Lauren Adams, American actress * January 12 ** Keith Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter ** Rachael Harris, American actress and comedian * January 13 – Pat Onstad, Canadian footballer * January 14 – LL Cool J, African-American rapper and actor * January 15 – Chad Lowe, American actor * January 16 – Stephan Pastis, American cartoonist * January 17 – Svetlana Masterkova, Russian athlete * January 19 – Matt Hill, Canadian voice actor * January 21 – Charlotte Ross, American actress * January 23 – Yasuhiro Takato, Japanese voice actor * January 24 ** Mary Lou Retton, American gymnast ** Michael Kiske, German musician * January 26 – Novala Takemoto, Japanese author and fashion designer * January 27 – Mike Patton, American singer * January 28 – Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer * January 29 ** Edward Burns, American actor ** Sora Jung, Korean actress * February 1 ** Lisa Marie Presley, American singer ** Mark Recchi, Canadian hockey player * February 2 – Kenny Albert, American sports announcer * February 3 ** Vlade Divac, Serbian basketball player ** Marwan Khoury, Lebanese singer and composer * February 5 ** Qasim Melho, Syrian television actor ** Roberto Alomar, American baseball player ** Marcus Gronholm, Finnish rally driver * February 7 ** Peter Bondra, Slovakian ice hockey player ** Porntip Nakhirunkanok, Miss Universe 1988 * February 8 – Gary Coleman, American actor (d. 2010) * February 10 ** Atika Suri, Indonesian television newscaster ** Laurie Foell, New Zealand/Australian actress * February 12 – Chynna Phillips, American singer/actress * February 13 – Kelly Hu, Asian-American actress and former fashion model * February 14 ** Jules Asner, American model and television personality ** Nelson "Viscera" Frazier, Jr., American professional wrestler * February 15 – Gloria Trevi, Mexican singer and actress * February 18 ** Dennis Satin, German film director ** Molly Ringwald, American actress, singer and dancer * February 22 ** Brad Nowell, American musician (d. 1996) ** Jeri Ryan, American actress ** Delphine Boel, out-of-wedlock daughter of King Albert II of Belgium * February 25 – Sandrine Kiberlain, French actress * February 27 – Matt Stairs, Canadian baseball player March–April * March 1 ** Kunjarani Devi, Indian weightlifter ** Muho Noelke, German Zen master * March 2 – Daniel Craig, British actor * March 3 – Brian Leetch, American ice hockey player * March 4 ** Patsy Kensit, British actress ** Giovanni Carrara, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player * March 5 – Gordon Bajnai, Hungarian Prime Minister * March 6 – Moira Kelly, American actress * March 10 – Thio Li-ann, Singaporean law academic and Nominated Member of Parliament * March 11 – Lisa Loeb, American singer * March 12 – Aaron Eckhart, American actor * March 13 ** Akira Nogami, Japanese professional wrestler ** Masami Okui, Japanese singer * March 14 – James Frain, British actor * March 15 – Terje Riis-Johansen, Norwegian politician * March 16 – Trevor Wilson, American basketball player * March 18 – Shinichiro Miki, Japanese voice actor * March 19 – Mots'eoa Senyane, Lesotho diplomat * March 22 – Øystein Aarseth, Norwegian musician (d. 1993) * March 23 ** Mike Atherton, English cricketer ** Damon Albarn, English rock musician ** Mitch Cullin, American novelist * March 26 – James Iha, American rock musician * March 28 ** Iris Chang, American author (d. 2004) ** Nasser Hussain, English cricketer * March 29 – Lucy Lawless, New Zealand actress and singer * March 30 – Céline Dion, Canadian singer * April 1 ** Andreas Schnaas, German director ** Julia Boutros, Lebanese singer * April 8 – Patricia Arquette, American actress * April 12 – Adam Graves, Canadian ice hockey player * April 14 – Anthony Michael Hall, American actor and singer * April 15 – Stacey Williams, American model * April 16 – Martin Dahlin, Swedish football player * April 18 – David Hewlett, English born Canadian actor * April 19 – Ashley Judd, American actress * April 20 ** J. D. Roth, American television host ** Yelena Valbe, Russian cross-country skier * April 23 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (d. 2001) * April 24 ** Stacy Haiduk, American actress ** Yuji Nagata, Japanese professional wrestler * April 28 – Howard Donald, British singer (Take That) May–June * May 1 – Oliver Bierhoff, German footballer * May 2 – Hikaru Midorikawa, Japanese voice actor * May 7 – Traci Lords, American actress/porn star * May 9 – Marie-José Pérec, French athlete * May 10 – Darren Matthews, English professional wrestler * May 12 – Tony Hawk, American skateboarder * May 16 – Chingmy Yau, Hong Kong actress * May 17 – Constance Menard, French professional dressage rider * May 20 – Waisale Serevi, Fijian rugby player * May 21 – Julie Vega, Filipino child actress and singer (d. 1985) * May 22 – Graham Linehan, Irish television writer and director * May 26 – Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark * May 27 ** Jeff Bagwell, American baseball player ** Frank Thomas, American baseball player * May 28 – Kylie Minogue, Australian actress and singer * May 30 – Zacarias Moussaoui, French-Moroccan 9/11 conspirator * June 1 – Jason Donovan, Australian actor and singer * June 2 ** Beetlejuice, member of the Wack Pack (The Howard Stern Show) ** Jon Culshaw, English impressionist * June 9 – Alexandr Konovalov, Russian lawyer and politician * June 10 ** Bill Burr, American comedian ** Nobutoshi Canna, Japanese voice actor * June 14 – Yasmine Bleeth, American actress * June 21 – Sonique, British singer * June 26 ** Iwan Roberts, Welsh footballer ** Paolo Maldini, Italian football player ** Shannon Sharpe, American football player and commentator * June 28 – Adam Woodyatt, British actor * June 29 – Theoren Fleury, Canadian hockey player * June 30 – Philip Anselmo, American musician July–August * July 5 – Ken Akamatsu, Japanese manga artist * July 7 ** Jorja Fox, American actress ** Allen Payne, American actor ** Jeff VanderMeer, American writer * July 8 ** Billy Crudup, American actor ** Akio Suyama, Japanese voice actor ** Michael Weatherly, American actor * July 10 – Hassiba Boulmerka, Algerian athlete * July 13 – Omi Minami, Japanese voice actress * July 15 – Eddie Griffin, American actor and comedian * July 16 ** Dhanraj Pillay, Indian field hockey player ** Barry Sanders, African-American football player * July 17 – Darren Day, British actor and TV presenter * July 19 – Robert Flynn, American vocalist and guitarist (Machine Head) * July 20 – Carlos Saldanha, Brazilian director * July 21 – Johnnie Barnes, American football player * July 22 – Rhys Ifans, Welsh actor * July 23 – Gary Payton, American basketball player * July 24 – Kristin Chenoweth, American soprano and actress * July 27 – Julian McMahon, Australian actor * July 30 – Robert Korzeniowski, Polish racewalker * August 3 – Rod Beck, American baseball player (d. 2007) * August 5 ** Marine Le Pen, French politician ** Colin McRae, Scottish rally car driver (d. 2007) * August 9 ** Gillian Anderson, American actress ** James Roy, Australian author ** Eric Bana, Australian actor * August 10 – Greg Hawgood, Canadian ice hockey player * August 11 – Noordin Mohammad Top, Malaysian Islamist terrorist (d. 2009) * August 12 ** Andras Jones, American actor ** Koji Yusa Japanese voice actor * August 14 ** Jason Leonard, English rugby player ** Darren Clarke, Northern Irish professional golfer ** Catherine Bell, American actress * August 15 – Debra Messing, American actress * August 17 ** Ed McCaffrey, American football player ** Bruno van Pottelsberghe, Belgian economist * August 20 – Yuri Shiratori Japanese actress and singer * August 21 – Dina Carroll, British singer * August 24 ** Tim Salmon, American baseball player ** Shoichi Funaki, Japanese professional wrestler ** Hiroshi Kitadani, Japanese singer * August 25 – Rachael Ray, American television chef and host * August 28 – Billy Boyd, Scottish actor * August 31 ** Hideo Nomo, Japanese baseball player ** Valdon Dowiyogo, Nauruan politician and Australian football player September–October * September 1 – Mohamed Atta, Egyptian terrorist (d. 2001) * September 4 ** John DiMaggio, American voice actor ** Phill Lewis, American actor ** Mike Piazza, American baseball player * September 5 – Thomas Levet, French golfer * September 6 – Macy Gray, American R&B singer * September 7 – Marcel Desailly, French footballer * September 10 ** Big Daddy Kane, American hip-hop artist ** Guy Ritchie, British film director * September 11 ** Kay Hanley, American musician ** Tetsuo Kurata, Japanese actor * September 17 – Anastacia, American singer-songwriter * September 18 – Toni Kukoč, Croatian basketball player * September 20 ** Darrell Russell, American race car driver (d. 2004) ** Phillipa Forrester, British TV presenter ** Leah Pinsent, Canadian actress * September 22 – Megan Hollingshead, American voice actress * September 23 – Yvette Fielding, English television presenter * September 25 – Will Smith, American rapper and actor * September 26 ** James Caviezel, American actor ** Ben Shenkman, American television, film and stage actor ** Michelle Meldrum, American guitarist (d. 2008) * September 27 – Mari Kiviniemi, Prime Minister of Finland * September 28 ** Mika Häkkinen, Finnish Formula One driver ** Naomi Watts, English-born Australian actress * September 29 ** Patrick Burns, American paranormal investigator and television personality ** Samir Soni, Indian film and TV actor * October 1 – Jay Underwood, American actor * October 2 ** Victoria Derbyshire, British radio presenter ** Benjie Paras, Filipino professional basketball player and actor * October 3 – Paul Crichton, English footballer * October 7 – Thom Yorke, British singer/songwriter * October 8 ** Daniela Castelo, Argentine journalist (d. 2011) ** Emily Procter, American actress * October 9 – Troy Anthony Davis, American high-profile death row inmate and human rights activist (d. 2011) * October 10 ** Feridun Düzağaç, Turkish rock singer and songwriter ** Bart Brentjens, Dutch mountainbiker * October 11 – Jane Krakowski, American actress * October 12 – Hugh Jackman, Australian actor * October 14 – Matthew Le Tissier, English footballer * October 15 ** Didier Deschamps, French footballer ** Jyrki 69, Finnish singer * October 15 – Vanessa Marcil, American actress * October 17 – Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician and oldest son of Bob Marley * October 22 – Shaggy, Jamaican singer * October 24 – Mark Walton (story artist) American story artist, actor * October 27 – Alain Auderset, Swedish writer * October 29 – Tsunku, Japanese singer, music producer, and song composer November–December * November 1 – Silvio Fauner, Italian cross-country skier * November 3 – Debbie Rochon, Canadian actress * November 4 ** Council Nedd II, American Anglican bishop ** Daniel Landa, Czech composer, singer, actor and rallye racer. ** Lee Germon, New Zealand cricketer ** Miles Long, American Pornographic Actor and Director * November 8 ** Parker Posey, American actress ** Zara Whites, Dutch actress * November 9 – Nazzareno Carusi, Italian classical pianist * November 11 – David L Cook, Christian recording star * November 12 ** Sammy Sosa, Dominican Major League Baseball player ** Aya Hisakawa, Japanese voice actress * November 13 – Pat Hentgen, baseball player * November 14 ** Serge Postigo, Canadian actor ** Janine Lindemulder, American adult film actress * November 15 ** Ol' Dirty Bastard, African-American rapper (d. 2004) ** Fausto Brizzi, Italian screenwriter and film director * November 18 ** Barry Hunter, Northern Irish footballer and football manager ** Owen Wilson, American actor ** Gary Sheffield, American retired baseball player ** Luizianne Lins, Brazilian mayor * November 20 – John Trobaugh, American artist and photographer * November 21 ** Qiao Hong, Chinese table tennis player ** Sean Schemmel, American voice actor * November 22 ** Rasmus Lerdorf, Danish-Greenlandic creator of PHP ** Sidse Babett Knudsen, Danish actress * November 23 – Hamid Hassani, Iranian scholar * November 25 ** Jill Hennessy, Canadian actress ** Jacqueline Hennessy, Canadian actress and talk show host * November 27 – Michael Vartan, French actor * November 29 – Jonathan Knight, American singer (New Kids on the Block) * November 30 – Rica Matsumoto, Japanese voice actress and singer * December 2 – Lucy Liu, American actress * December 3 ** Brendan Fraser, Canadian-American actor ** Montell Jordan, American singer * December 5 – Margaret Cho, American actress and comedian * December 7 ** Mark Geyer, Australian rugby league player ** Filip Naudts, Belgian photographer ** Greg Ayres, American voice actor * December 8 ** Mike Mussina, American baseball player ** Michael Cole, American TV wrestling commentator ** Wendi Deng, Chinese-American businesswoman * December 9 – Kurt Angle, American amateur and professional wrestler, 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist * December 11 – Monique Garbrecht, German speed skater * December 17 – Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver * December 18 – Rachel Griffiths, Australian actress * December 21 – Khrystyne Haje, American actress * December 23 – Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, American photographer * December 24 – Choi Jin-sil, South Korean actress and model * December 26 – Dennis Knight, American professional wrestler Date unknown * Andrei Ivanovitch, Russian classical pianist * George Henry Smyth, Irish artist Deaths January–March * January 7 ** Hugo Butler, Canadian screenwriter (b. 1914) ** Gholamreza Takhti, Iranian wrestler (b. 1930) * January 10 – Theophilus Ebenhaezer Dönges, Former Prime Minister of South Africa, and elected President of South Africa (b. 1898) * January 11 – Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli linguist and Talmudic scholar, and Israel Prize recipient (b. 1876) * January 15 – Bill Masterton, Canadian hockey player (b. 1938) * January 18 – Bert Wheeler, American actor and comedian (b. 1895) * January 19 – Ray Harroun, American race car driver (b. 1879) * January 21 – Will Lang Jr., American journalist (b. 1914) * January 22 – Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer (b. 1890) * January 26 – Merrill C. Meigs, American newspaper publisher and aviation promoter (b. 1883) * January 30 – Robert Wood Johnson, American business leader and philanthropist (b. 1893) * February 1 ** Lawson Little, American golfer (b. 1910) ** Jacob van der Hoeden, Dutch-Israeli veterinary scientist (b. 1891) * February 4 – Neal Cassady, American writer (b. 1926) * February 7 – Nick Adams, American actor (b. 1931) * February 11 – Howard Lindsay, American playwright (b. 1888) * February 13 – Mae Marsh, American actress (b. 1894) * February 19 – Georg Hackenschmidt, strongman and professional wrestler (b. 1878) * February 20 – Anthony Asquith, British director and writer (b. 1902) * February 21 – Howard Walter Florey, Australian-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (b. 1898) * February 22 – Peter Arno, American cartoonist (b. 1904) * February 23 – Fannie Hurst, American novelist (b. 1885) * February 27 – Frankie Lymon, American singer (b. 1942) * February 29 – Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (b. 1886) * March 6 – Léon Mathot, French actor (b. 1886) * March 10 – Helen Walker, American actress (b. 1920) * March 16 ** Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (b. 1895) ** Leon Cadore, American baseball pitcher (b. 1890) ** June Collyer, American actress (b. 1906) * March 20 ** Charles Chaplin Jr., American actor (b. 1925) ** Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish film director (b. 1889) * March 23 – Edwin O'Connor, American novelist and Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (b. 1918) * March 24 – Alice Guy-Blaché, French film director (b. 1873) * March 27 – Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut, first human in space (b. 1934) * March 30 – Bobby Driscoll, American child actor (b. 1937) April–June * April 1 – Lev Davidovich Landau, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908) * April 4 – Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b. 1929) * April 7 – Jim Clark, Scottish race car driver (b. 1936) * April 10 – Gustavs Celmins, Latvian politician (b. 1899) * April 14 – Al Benton, American baseball player (b. 1911) * April 16 ** Fay Bainter, American actress (b. 1893) ** Edna Ferber, American writer (b. 1885) * April 22 – Stephen H. Sholes, American record executive (b. 1911) * April 24 – Tommy Noonan, American actor (b. 1921) * April 25 – Walter Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876) * May 1 – Jack Adams, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1895) * May 5 – Albert Dekker, American actor (b. 1905) * May 7 ** Mike Spence, British race car driver (b. 1936) ** Craig Wood, American golfer (b. 1901) * May 9 ** Finlay Currie, Scottish actor (b. 1878) ** Mercedes de Acosta, American poet, playwright, costume designer, and socialite (b. 1893) ** Marion Lorne, American actress (b. 1883) * May 10 – Scotty Beckett, American actor (b. 1929) * May 14 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (b. 1882) * May 21 – Doris Lloyd, English actress (b. 1896) * May 23 – James Burke, American actor (b. 1886) * May 25 – Georg von Küchler, German field marshal (b. 1881) * May 29 – Arnold Susi, Estonian lawyer and politician (b. 1896) * June 1 – Helen Keller, American spokeswoman for the deaf and blind (b. 1880) * June 2 ** Jouett Shouse, American politician (b. 1879) ** Dick Williams, American tennis champion (b. 1891) * June 4 – Dorothy Gish, American actress (b. 1898) * June 6 ** Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General (assassinated) (b. 1925) ** Randolph Churchill, British politician, son of Winston Churchill (b. 1911) * June 7 – Dan Duryea, American actor (b. 1907) * June 14 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901) * June 15 ** Sam Crawford, American baseball player (b. 1880) ** Wes Montgomery, American jazz guitarist (b. 1925) * June 18 – Sally O'Neil, American actress (b. 1908) * June 24 – Tony Hancock, British comedian (b. 1924) (suicide) July–September * July 1 – Virginia Weidler, American actress (b. 1926) * July 6 – Johnny Indrisano, American boxer and actor (b. 1906) * July 7 – Ellsworth Johnson, American gangster (b. 1906) * July 18 – Corneille Heymans, Belgian physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892) * July 21 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer (b. 1878) * July 23 – Henry Hallett Dale, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1875) * July 27 – Lilian Harvey, German actress (b. 1906) * July 28 – Otto Hahn, German chemist, discoverer of nuclear fission, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879) * July 30 – Alexander Hall, American Theatrical Motion Picture Director (b. 1894) * July 31 – Jack Pizzey, Premier of Queensland, Australia (b. 1911) * August 19 – George Gamow, Ukrainian-born physicist (b. 1904) * August 26 – Kay Francis, American actress (b. 1899) * August 27 ** Robert Z. Leonard, American film director (b. 1889) ** Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (b. 1906) * August 29 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American soldier and planner (b. 1881) * August 31 – Dennis O'Keefe, American actor (b. 1908) * September 8 – Luther Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1928) * September 12 – Tommy Armour, Scottish golfer (b. 1894) * September 18 ** Francis McDonald, American actor (b. 1891) ** Franchot Tone, American actor (b. 1905) * September 19 – Red Foley, American singer (b. 1910) * September 24 – Virginia Valli, American actress (b. 1898) * September 26 – Lipman Heilprin, Israeli physician and Israel Prize recipient (b. 1902) * September 28 – Norman Brookes, Australian tennis champion (b. 1877) October–December * October 2 – Marcel Duchamp, French artist (b. 1887) * October 9 – Pierre Mulele, Congolese revolutionary * October 13 – Bea Benaderet, American actress (b. 1906) * October 18 – Lee Tracy, American actor (b. 1898) * October 27 – Lise Meitner, German-Austrian physicist, discoverer of nuclear fission (b. 1878) * October 30 ** Pert Kelton, American actress (b. 1907) ** Rose Wilder Lane, American author and reporter (b. 1886) ** Ramón Novarro, Mexican actor (b. 1899) ** Conrad Richter, American writer (b. 1890) * November 4 – Michel Kikoine, Belarusian painter (b. 1892) * November 6 – Charles Munch, French conductor and violinist (b. 1891) * November 7 – Gordon Coventry, Australian rules footballer (b. 1901) * November 8 – Wendell Corey, American actor (b. 1914) * November 9 – Gerald Mohr, American actor (b. 1914) * November 13 – Berthold Bartosch, Czech animator (b. 1893) * November 18 – Walter Wanger, American film producer (b. 1894) * November 20 – Helen Gardner, American actress (b. 1884) * November 24 – Istvan Dobi, former Hungarian leader (b. 1898) * November 25 – Upton Sinclair, American writer (b. 1878) * November 26 – Arnold Zweig, German writer (b. 1887) * November 28 – Enid Blyton, British children's writer (b. 1897) * December 2 – Adamson-Eric, Estonian artist (b. 1902) * December 4 – Archie Mayo, American actor and director (b. 1891) * December 5 – Fred Clark, American actor (b. 1914) * December 10 ** Karl Barth, German Protestant theologian (b. 1888) ** Thomas Merton, American author (b. 1915) * December 12 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (b. 1902) * December 14 – Margarete Klose, German soprano (b. 1902) * December 15 – Jess Willard, American boxer (b. 1881) * December 19 – Norman Thomas, American politician (b. 1884) * December 20 – John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902) * December 21 – Vittorio Pozzo, Italian football player and manager (b. 1886) * December 30 ** Trygve Lie, Norwegian United Nations Secretary General (the first) (b. 1896) ** Vladimir Peter Tytla, American animator (b. 1904) * December 31 – George Lewis, American musician (b. 1900) Date unknown * Alan Stuart Paterson, New Zealand cartoonist (b. 1902) Nobel Prizes * Physics – Luis Walter Alvarez * Chemistry – Lars Onsager * Physiology or Medicine – Robert W. Holley, Har Gobind Khorana, Marshall W. Nirenberg * Literature – Yasunari Kawabata * Peace – René Cassin References * TIME Magazine, 40th Anniversary Special (2008). "1968: The Year That Changed the World." * NEWSWEEK Magazine. "1968: The Year That Made Us Who We Are." November 19, 2007. * TIME Magazine. "1968: The Year That Shaped a Generation." January 11, 1988. * Kurlansky, Mark. (2004). 1968: The Year that Rocked the World. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-06251-0 * NPR "Echoes of 1968" report series. * 1968 – The Year in Sound An Audiofile produced by Lou Zambrana of WCBS Newsradio 880 (WCBS-AM New York) Part of WCBS 880's celebration of 40 years of newsradio. * 1968 Coin Pictures * Magnum Photos, Historic photos from 1968 * BBC Radio 4 – 1968 Myth or Reality? – six months of 'news on this day' programmes and documentaries * Reflections on 1968 Read people's memories of the year 1968. Minnesota Historical Society Category:1968